MGMT302 Behavior in Organizations Case Studies Discussion read the following instructions, case studies from chapter 9 -12 will be in file + please read th

MGMT302 Behavior in Organizations Case Studies Discussion read the following instructions, case studies from chapter 9 -12 will be in file + please read the instructions carefully CHAPTER 9. COMMUNICATION IN ORGANIZATIONS
331
The Home Depot’s Extreme Communication Makeover
W
Case in Point
ith some 2.200 orange box stores throughout
North America and more than 322,000 employees, The
Home Depot has become the world’s largest home
mprovement retailer. Although its a landmark today, the
company is relatively new founded in 1978. To say that its
growth has been staggering is an understatement The
Home Depot is the fastest growing retailer in history and
the youngest retailer in the Fortune 50 its sales volumes
so enormous that in 2005 alone, it sold enough carpet to
pove a two-lane road from company headquarters in
Atlanta to Los Angeles, then up to New York and back
again to Atlanta The company enjoys annual sales of more
than 571 28 bilion
As impressive as these figures are, The Home Depot
vast size, rapid growth, and geographic diversity have
treated a number of challenges- not the least important
of which are the complexities of communication. After
al employees speak not only English, but Spanish in
parts of the United States and in Mexico) as well as
French in Quebec)–not to mention the various mother
tongues spoken by suppliers and immigrant employees
And of course, the company faces the Herculean task of
getting the word out to store employees about such vital
issues as price changes, promotional campaigns, and
product recalls to make all this happen, The Home
Depot has developed a two-pronged plan that capitalizes
on technology
The challenge of communicating in multiple languages
8 so extensive that The Home Depot employs a full-time
translation supervisor who oversees the translation of every
thing from the labeling of boxes and the creation of training
manuals to in-store promotional campaigns To receive per-
fect translations very quickly, the company has partnered
with a firm specializing in international translation services,
Bowne Global Solutions (BGS). They installed a Web-based
system through which Home Depot managers can submit
translation projects, ranging from simple in-store notices to
engthy operational manuals, for rapid translations that
sound completely natural to native speakers. To date, BGS
has completed thousands of translation projects not only for
Home Depot departments in the United States, Canada, and
Mexico, but also its numerous suppliers throughout the
world. The quick turnaround and high-quality translations
The Home Depot gets from BGS have been instrumental
to its success
Another communication challenge at The Home Depot
Is the need to coordinate all the information sent to sales
associates and managers in a way that ensures that nothing
is missed–but without overwhelming them Over the years,
these have been problems for the giant reader, as messages
in various forms would pour into stores daily creating a del
uge of phone calls, faxes, snail mails, and e-mails. According
to the director of
operations, there was a cor
dinate this ongoing stream of information. To streamline and
priontie the information, The Home Depot again sought the
expertise of an outside firm, Reflex Systems, which devel
oped a Web-based system in which all messages are orga-
nized in a single place. Now, not only can managers access
all the information required to plan and track their assign-
ments, but they also can track the progress and report their
results on a real-time basis
The biggest challenge in implementing the system
involved training thousands of employees in every store
but it has been working well. Now, they’ve got a single
pipeline that all managers can use for all action required
communication, completely eliminating duplication in
communication. Before this system was put into place, it
was not unusual for store managers to receive the same
e-mail several times because it was sent to them by various
people. Now, the clarity and greater visibility important
messages has made it possible for stores to be in perfect
compliance with requirements for handling product recalls
and safety alerts, which benefits customers. And this, of
course, contributes to The Home Depot’s efforts to provide
outstanding customer service
Questions for Discussion
1. What major communication problems did The Home
Depot have and manage to solve?
2. In what ways did The Home Depot leverage the power
of technology to facilitate communication? How else
might it do so?
3. Based on the material in this chapter, what else could
be done at The Home Depot to improve communica-
tion within the company?
CHAT
CHAPTER 10 • DECISION MAKING IN ORGANIZATIONS
373
tators should guide their
step 1. Allow approxi-
group leader, and repeat
eve that this answer accu-
or different? Why?
group experience? For
it their turns before
should be made from environmentally friendly materials
Interestingly, the first two criteria remained unchanged
tom 100 years ago
With these considerations in mind, and with the Root
Glass Company long gone, the job was turned over to
design staff at the branding and packaging firm Turner
Duckworth. Their new design was an aluminum contour
bottle in traditional Coke red with the white script logo
wapped prominently around the middle. It was a sexier.
updated version of Mr. Dean’s Coke bottle-immediately
cognizable but up-to-date. And being made of aluminum
instead of glass, the container feels colder when held, is
Ighter to ship, much less expensive to produce, and is
co-friendly. In fact, the bottle is made of recycled
auminum that, itself, can be recycled. So highly regarded
was the design that it won the prestigious Grand Prix at the
Cannes Lions advertising festival
Although this bottle is in only limited use, such as in a
few upscale clubs, its success has inspired Coca-Cola to
redesign the remaining products in the company’s vast
portfolio. As overwhelming as this may seem, with a
consistent look and design strategy to guide them, these
decisions promise to be a little less challenging. Too bad
Earl R. Dean isn’t here to help this time around
Questions for Discussion
1. How do you think the analytical model of decision
making (see Figure 10.1, page 335) might have been
applied by Coca-Cola when designing new bottles?
What specific tasks might have been done at each
step in the process?
2. What errors or biases might have contributed to less-
than-perfect decisions in this case? How might they
have been overcome?
3. What recommendations for improving the decision-
making process identified in this chapter might be
applied in this case? How do you think they
would help?
CHAT
you used a totally
oup?
ideas are not coming
en to avoid this problem.
dvice?
advantages of the tactic
his intrusiveness, people’s good ideas are not comin
1. Explain what steps might be taken to avoid this problem
across
Practicing OB
The Intrusive Manager
A large product-distribution company is having a problem
during its group meetings One department manager is
constantly disrupting the meetings while trying to get his
ideas across. He has so consistently intimidated his
coworkers that they are reluctant to speak up. As a result of
2. What is your rationale for this advice?
1 What are the advantages and disadvantages of the last
you identified
Case in Point
CHAT
Coca-Cola: Deciding on the Look
W
hat do Yao Ming, LeBron James, and a Dean
have in common? The first two are professonal basket
ball start of course, but who’s Earl Dean? He happens
to be the person who designed Coca-Cola’s familiar
contour bottle the shapely container with a middle
diameter that’s larger than its base. That was back in
1915. How do Yao and Lebron it in you ask They too
designed Coca-Cola botties, but more recently, in 2008
to be exact. Now, before you start thinking that only
celebrities such as Yao, Leon, and the now-departed
Earl get to do such cool things you too could have
designed your own bottle. In fact, in conjunction with
the Olympic Games in Beijing and Vancouver, tens of
thousands of people from around the world visited Coca-
Colas Website, where, with the aid of a drawing appli
cation, they put stunningly beautiful finishing touches on
classic Coke bottles
Why did Coke bother with tha? The answer is simple
Coca-Cola has been in the process of deading on a new
bottle design and they stand to get great ideas from the
Submissions. And because visitors to the site are asked to
vote on the various designs submitted, company offic’s
can get a good sense of what consumers like
But designs by consumers were only one source of
Inspiration. The head of Coca-Cola’s design team was
charged with creating a consistent new look for the com
pany’s products and needed as much input as possible
That was the same situation a century ago, when Coca
Cola officuls turned to its bottle suppliers for suggestions
They wanted a bottle that people enjoyed using and that
was so easily recognizable that it could be identified iffet
in the dark, or even if it were broken into pieces. Thats
when our hero, Earl R. Dean, bottle designer at the Root
Glass Company came up with the winning deign, earning
him a prize of a lifetime job with the company
Today, with 450 different brands, more than 300 dite
ent models of vending machines, and different design stan
dards being used throughout the world, the design task 53
bit larger in scope. But like a century ago, dear criteria are
being used to specify exactly what the company is trying to
achieve. Today’s design team identified three consider
tions. The design had to identity the brand dearly, it should
Create a good experience for the user, and the conta
Coneren
My LULUI
seems to take great pleasure out of raking people over the
coals publicly humiliating them in front of others. Her
management style is so obnoxious that everyone hates her,
and several good people have already quit to find other
her obnoxious behavior? Or are you stuck with her
long as she is the supervisor and you stay with the
company ?
learn how to communicate
ment and externally with the
ving external common
because when he des
of the company. A Messenger
um to be practical actual core
Groups and Teams at Kluster
W
benWat
montatto
Case in Point
he concept of teamwork.com
Klustet. The company’s Huminator rocco
driven product development platform theme
ment of many different people on Palette
manager, notes that each individual on the
team brings a different set of skills to the table Verben
meet daily, either electronically or physical to the
project and generate new ideas
According to Pasies se managements portant to
the project’s success. Each person must stay on task and
provide feedback to the other members The graphic
designer on the project says that each individually
ferent
One person provides the voice of a
and gives a perspective of how ideas wil afect the
situation. A third member of the team this outside the
box a fourth considers the project from a future porto
view, and so on. The founder of Custer Ben Kauman
Disco Questions
1.Ung the top
would you tha
2
sorbet
3. Cong the
Chan what wou
ds to ensure that it
Southwest Airlines: Profits from People
For Parker, this failure on his part was the last straw.
are extremely proud to report our 2009 earning
leading him to resign in mid-2004. In his resignation speech
The stated that he had never found the job to be fun and that
which represents ou 37th consecutive year of profitability
That’s a statement that almost no airline executives were
the company deserved a leader who could take it to the next
making as 2009 slipped into 2010. Howeved Gary C. Kelly
level
CEO of Southwest Airlines spoke these words with comid
Today, Kelleher remains sensitive to his company
erable pride as he addressed company stockholders. Indeed.
relations with its employees Addressing an audience a
he had every reason to be proud of the company capacity
Stanford Business School, Kelleher said, “We’ve never
to turn a profit at a time when ant about all of its compet
treated them lemployees) as adversanes. We’ve always
tors were either at or beyond, the brink of bankruptcy. The
treated them as partners, because if that canoe goes
secret as he boasts, our people
down, we’re all going down with it. He said Southwest
For many years, Southwest Airlines was famous for makes a point of including union leaders in company
having good relations between employees and manage-
functions, and if they have an issue, we take care of its
ment. The company and its employees saw eye-to-eye
quickly as we possibly can. During labor negotiations,
and agreements about working conditions and pay were
“We have fights, but not vendettas. We yell, we throw
met readily. Although that appears to be the case today things, we get a contract and then its behind us. It’s not
as well, conditions souted a decade ago. In 2002 and
like the Hatfields and McCoys, feuding and still killing
2003, negotiations focusing around Labor practices each other after generations for reasons they don’t
ground to a painful halt Even worse, the tone of the remember. And, in today’s highly competitive airline
negotiations became so angry and bitter that for the first business, this surely gives Southwest an edge up on the
tune in the company history union leaders issued strong other carriers. If the figures Mr. Kelly reports are any indi-
verbal attacks against top management, including cation, this surely is the case
Southwests then-CEO, lames Parker
Employees accused Parker of being inflexible and Questions for Discussion
unreasonable, and expressed strong concerns about the 1. What forms of trust are involved in this case and how
quality of his leadership. Ultimately, the situation became
so tense that Parker removed himself from the negotia
were they violated?
2. How are issues of cooperation and competition
tions and asked Southwests former CEO, Herbert D.
Kelleher to come out of retirement just to resolve the
involved in this case?
bitter dispute Fortunately, he succeeded quickly, resol
3. To what extent might the excellent state of labor relo
ing in less than eight weeks a dispute that had lasted
tions at Southwest have contributed to the company
over two years
record of financial success-especially in a challenging
business environment?
Technology and the Tools of Communication
how many people it wil
ffective communication is essential for organizations
de wild
Communicators face two main challenges. The first is to
Tools valable to co
ensure that information is ray to comprehend The
methods such as intero
ond is to get a message noticed. This particularly
brochures, and technolo
important because people are bombarded continually
on-demand custom-prin
with new information. This involves choosing the night
sos. Making messages
media and delivery vehicle for a particular audience
mportant component
When choosing the right too, it seem to consider
con strategy
the audiences expectations, the development time and Not only does techno
cost of the message, how long it will take to distribute personalized messages
444
PART 5 . INFLUENCING OTHERS
always very interesting to them,” she notes. And the
Smiths themselves were aware of this interest from child-
hood on, “We like business. We grew up in a business-
oriented
family,” Mike says
Although they attended different schools, the Smith
brothers were both described by people who knew them as
bright, hard-working, and unassuming. “Ego doesn’t
worked with both brothers. They are great guys to work
around and as a result, generate a lot of loyalty. Jack will
wander down the halls, his head down, trying to be
obscure, where the king would be looking around for
recognition,” says Dr. David E. Cole, director of the
University of Michigan’s Center for Automotive Research
So, it does not appear that the Smiths gained their power
through organizational politics. Instead, they seemed to
acquire it naturally because other people liked, trusted, and
respected them
In addition, the fact that they were “organization-
oriented” rather than “my own career-oriented” seems to
have played an important role in their rise to power. Both
Smith brothers are true team players, with genuine concern
for the people with whom they work as well as their com
panies. More top executives prefer to gather power from
their personal characteristics—their charisma, expertise
personalities-than from their positions. The Smith broth
ers seem to appreciate this fact and have used it to build
their successful careers-along with huge helpings of
power. Individually and together, they suggest that the
road to power in today’s organizations does not have to
follow a route dictated by selfish self-interest. On the con
trary, individuals who gain power often seem to do so
because their skills and talents suit them to this role rather
than because they set out, early in life, to seek it.
CHAT
Questions for Discussion
1. What bases of personal power contribute to the Smith
brothers’ success?
2. Is their low-key, unassuming approach the best for
obtaining–and keeping-power?
3. How might organizational politics have played a role
in the Smith brothers’ rise to the top?
CHAPTER 10. DECISION MAKING IN ORGANIZATIONS
335
FIGURE 10.1
1. Identify the problem
(e.g., insufficient funds to
meet payroll obligations)
If a solution is not found
(e.g., funds still not available)
Problem
Solved
8. Follow up
(e.g., do I now have
sufficient funds?)
If a solution
is found (e.g.,
funds available)
2. Define objectives
(e.g., increase cash flow)
Overview of the
Decision-Making
Process
The analytical model of
the decision-making
process describes most
decisions as following the
eight general steps shown
here. Note how each step
may be applied to a
hypothetical organizational
problem in this example,
not having sufficient funds
to meet payroll
obligations).
Source: Based on information
in Wedley & Field, 1984:
see Note 5.
7. Implement choice
(e.g., raise prices slightly
and sell excess inventory)
3. Make a predecision
(e.g., decide to solve
this problem alone)
4. Generate alternatives
6. Make a choice
(e.g.. decide to raise prices
slightly and sell excess
inventory)
(e.g., raise prices, lay off
workers, liquidate
equipment, etc.)
5. Evaluate alternatives
Ye… cher prices may
lower are laying off
workers will slow production)
they face. Substance abuse counselors, for example, tell us that a major step in the recovery
process involves getting patients to admit that they have problems in the first place. Even
among people who don’t suffer from this disease, as you may recall from our discussion of
the social perception process (see Chapter 3), people in general don’t always perceive
social situations accurately. It’s easy to distort, omit, ignore, and/or discount information
that might have provided important cues about the existence of problems. In the case of
our cash-short business owner, realizing the existence of a problem may be as easy as
checking the bank balance, or having a bookkeeper or accountant point this out.
2. Defining objectives. After a problem is identified, the next step is to define the objectives
to be met in solving the problem. It is important to conceive of problems in such a way that
possible solutions can be identified. Since the problem in our example is inadequate cash
reserves, the objective may be to improve cash flow. Any possible solution to the problem
should be evaluated relative to this objective. A good solution is one that meets it.
3. Making a predecision. The third step
in the decision-making process calls for making a
predecision. A predecision is a decision about how to make a decision. This may sound like
doubletalk, but it isn’t. To illustrate what we mean by this, consider how our business owner
must determine how to go about deciding what to do about her company’s cash flow prob-
lem. After assessing the nature of the situation, she may opt to put together an ad hoc group
to study the problem and make recommendations (see Chapter 8); she may hire an outside
predecision
A decision about what
process to follow in making
a decision.
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